Analyzing Fiction, The Ugly Duckling

This text was conducted to fulfill the ‘analyzing fiction’ group assignment. With my partners, we have to choose the most simple story and analysis the plot, the characters and characterization, setting and so on. We choose this story because this is the simple one and interesting to analyze. If there’s any mistaken, leave a comment…

Narrative text: The Ugly Duckling

One upon time, a mother duck sat on her eggs. She felt tired of sitting on them. She just wished the eggs would break out. Several days later, she got her wish. The eggs cracked and some cute little ducklings appeared. “Peep, peep” the little ducklings cried. “Quack, quack” their mother greeted in return.

However the largest egg had not cracked. The mother duck sat on it for several days. Finally, it cracked and a huge ugly duckling waddled out. The mother duck looked at him in surprise. He was so big and very gray. He didn’t look like the others at all. He was like a turkey.

When the mother duck brought the children to the pond for their first swimming lesson. The huge grey duckling splashed and paddled about just as nicely as the other ducklings did. “That is not a turkey chick. He is my very own son and quite handsome” the mother said proudly.

However, the other animals didn’t agree. They hissed and made fun of him day by day. Even his sisters and brothers were very unkind. “You are very ugly” they quacked. The little poor duckling was very unhappy. “I wish I looked like them,” he thought to himself.

One day, the ugly duckling run away and hid in the bushes. The sad duckling lived alone through the cold and snow winter. Finally the spring flowers began to bloom. While he was swimming in the pond, he saw three large white swans swimming toward him. “Oh, dear. These beautiful birds will laugh and peck me too,” he said to himself. But the swans did not attack him. Instead, they swam around him and stroked him with their bills. As the ugly duckling bent his neck to speak to them, he saw his reflection in the water. He could not believe his eyes. “I am not an ugly duckling but a beautiful swam” he exclaimed.

He was very happy. From that day on, he swam and played with his new friends and was happier than he had never been.

Plot:

The Ugly Duckling

Exposition:

One upon time, a mother duck sat on her eggs. She felt tired of sitting on them. She just wished the eggs would break out. Several days later, she got her wish. The eggs cracked and some cute little ducklings appeared. “Peep, peep” the little ducklings cried. “Quack, quack” their mother greeted in return.

Rising action:

However the largest egg had not cracked. The mother duck sat on it for several days. Finally, it cracked and a huge ugly duckling waddled out. The mother duck looked at him in surprise. He was so big and very gray. He didn’t look like the others at all. He was like a turkey.

When the mother duck brought the children to the pond for their first swimming lesson. The huge grey duckling splashed and paddled about just as nicely as the other ducklings did. “That is not a turkey chick. He is my very own son and quite handsome” the mother said proudly. However, the other animals didn’t agree. They hissed and made fun of him day by day. Even his sisters and brothers were very unkind. “You are very ugly” they quacked. The little poor duckling was very unhappy. “I wish I looked like them,” he thought to himself.

Climax:

One day, the ugly duckling run away and hid in the bushes. The sad duckling lived alone through the cold and snow winter.

Finally the spring flowers began to bloom. While he was swimming in the pond, he saw three large white swans swimming toward him. “Oh, dear. These beautiful birds will laugh and peck me too,” he said to himself. But the swans did not attack him. Instead, they swam around him and stroked him with their bills.

Falling action:

As the ugly duckling bent his neck to speak to them, he saw his reflection in the water. He could not believe his eyes. “I am not an ugly duckling but a beautiful swam” he exclaimed.

Resolution:

He was very happy. From that day on, he swam and played with his new friends and was happier than he had never been.

Character:

Mother duck: Patient and a lover. She waits her children until they born. Even her last child born differently yet she still loves her children.

The ugly duckling: Unconfident, because he was different with his brother and sister.

The duckling’s brother and sister: Unkind. They quacked and said that the big duckling was ugly.

Method of the character portrayal:

Mother duck: Dramatic Method, the mother duck is patient and lover, the author shows that indirectly by the action of the mother. The mother duck was patiently waiting the egg until it cracked. She also loves her son; it shows when the mother duck proudly says “That is not a turkey chick. He is my very own son and quite handsome”.

The Ugly duckling: Dramatic Method, the Author shows indirectly when the ugly duckling though “I wish I looked like them,” and he run away hid in the bushes.

The duckling’s brother and sister: Discursive method, the author directly tells that the duckling’s brother and sister was unkind.

Characterization:

The mother duck: Indirect or implicit characterization. It shows by the action of the character.

The ugly duckling: indirect or implicit characterization. It also shows by the action of the character.

The duckling’s brother and sister: Direct or explicit characterization. the author literally tells the audience, what a character is like.

Setting:

Setting of time: Mostly use the neutral setting, because the setting of place in this story did not show the specific time. The setting of time such as: one upon a time, several days later and one day. It also uses the spiritual setting; there is “the cold and snow winter”. Here we can see the specific information about the setting. It is about the winter that cold and snowy.

Setting of place: For the setting of place, there is also use only the neutral setting, because there is no specific information about the place in the story. The author only mentions a simple place such as: the pond and the bushes.

Point of view: The author only uses the third person point of view. The story refers to use the name of the character, such as: “the mother duck” and “the ugly duckling”.

Style:

About the author’s way of using language, the author uses the common language. Because the story is for children, the author did not bring the heavy language or the connotation. Mostly the author use denotation or dictionary meaning such as: “the mother duck”, “the little duckling”, and “the huge ugly duckling”.

The story use the literal image, there is no extension meaning of each sentence. For example “One day, the ugly duckling run away and hid in the bushes.” We can directly know that the duckling was hid in bushes, no more meaning that we can get from this sentence.